Ischemic heart disease in women

Abstract

Although significant advances in our knowledge about interventions to prevent and treat ischemic heart disease (IHD) have occurred, there are many differences between women and men in the symptom and pathophysiology of IHD. As IHD is one of the most prominent disease areas that gender difference exist; chest pain is not typical, sometimes angiography shows normal coronary, and poor prognosis because of delayed diagnosis in association with many risk factors in women. Smoking is the # 1 risk factor for the onset of acute myocardial infarction in women, whereas hypertension is the #1 risk in men. Overwhelming evidence suggests that IHD can be prevented in both women and men, however, much attention should be paid for female natients with IHD.